METEOROLOGIST JEFF HABY
The term stability comes up often in meteorological discussions. Two terms to focus on are stability and instability. The term stability
refers to a temperature profile that is not conducive for storm development. When parcels of air rise they encounter an environment that
causes the air to decelerate, stop and sink back down before storm convection can develop. Examples of stable layers are inversions and
capping layers. Instability is the opposite and refers to a troposphere that is conducive for thunderstorm development. Unstable layers
can be generated by strong solar heating of the ground surface, cooling aloft and low level warm air advection (especially when
accompanied with moisture advection). Atmospheric stability and instability are important topics in operational meteorology given
their importance to forecasting storms.
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